Rich-lister Patricia Ilhan offloads Greville St holding for $11 million

Capital Gain

Interstate and international investors are snapping up commercial property bargains on the streets of Melbourne’s CBD while locals keep their hands in their pockets.

An undisclosed Sydney investor is planning to restore the vacant Melbourne House at 354-360 Little Bourke Street to its office roots after spending about $23 million on the six-storey property.

360 Little Bourke Street, MelbourneCredit:

The deal reveals another example of wallowing property values, especially for an asset that has no income and requires a substantial renovation.

Singaporean investor Roxy-Pacific paid $33.02 million in 2017 and planned to demolish the property and build a 33-level hotel. But a late heritage listing slapped over the 100-year-old building nixed that idea.

The 4587-square-metre property sits on a 937 sq m site near the Elizabeth Street corner. It was previously owned by legal education provider the Leo Cussen Institute.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, Daniel Wolman and Leon Ma and JLL’s Tim Carr, Josh Rutman and Jesse Radisich got the deal over the line after Roxy-Pacific climbed down from its $30 million-plus expectations. The campaign drew eight bidders, including local developers and owner-occupiers.

Auction action

A bidder from mainland China nearly snared a shop on Elizabeth Street for the lucky price of $8.88 million after it passed in at auction last month.

However, the vendors, a family who had owned the shop at 423-425 Elizabeth Street since 1981, held their ground and reaped $9.1 million in post-auction negotiations.

The deal delivered the highest building rate – $32,155 a sq m – achieved in the city in the past five years and the tightest yield – 3.66 per cent – of the past two years.

423-425 Elizabeth Street fetched $9.1 million after auction.Credit:

Cushman & Wakefield’s Ma, along with Anthony Kirwan, Hay and Wolman, handled the negotiations.

The 283 sq m shop is on a 184 sq m piece of land at the Queen Vic Market end of Elizabeth Street and is leased to giant Chinese retailer Mixue.

The price is a sure guide to where the market is heading: income. Mixue pays an estimated $428,490 a year.

It proved quite the contrast with Thursday’s auction at 105 Elizabeth Street, between Collins and Little Collins streets.

The 870 sq m five-storey building sold under the hammer for just $6 million (equalling the final vendor bid) after bidding from two parties – an investor from Singapore and a representative from Advise Transact.

A Singaporean investor has paid $6 million for 105 Elizabeth Street in Melbourne.Credit:

It was a tight price but a good 30 per cent lower than what the building could have achieved in 2021. Records show investor Bin Ma paid $7.55 million in February 2024.

The property returns $283,798 a year, most of which is derived from the ground floor Coleman’s Music shop, giving the deal a sharp yield of 4.72 per cent

The office floors above are empty. Levels two to four were last occupied by US credit card giant American Express until the mid-1990s when it left for Hothlyn House, a building owned by former prime minister Bob Hawke.

The buyer will need deep pockets to fund a major renovation, but the payoff could be substantial. Fully leased it could rake in close to $600,000 a year.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Kirwan, Wolman and George Davies handled the auction, which attracted about 50 people and just 11 bids in more than 30 minutes.

Skyloft carpark

Another little piece of the CBD is up for grabs, but buyers won’t have to dig too deep for the car park in the basement of 601 Little Collins Street.

The 53-bay car park is for sale at about $3.5 million, which equates to $66,000 per car park, or $3100 per sq m.

The basement car park has frontages to 601 Little Collins Street and 40 Francis Street.Credit:

Colliers agent Christian Hatzis, who is handling the listing with Nick Garoni and Yvonne Zhou, suggests the car park could be converted into a different use, such as a gym or novelty escape room.

The 1118 sq m property is under the Skylofts 601 apartment building and has access from Francis Street.

It last changed hands in 2006 for $2.64 million. It’s one of a clutch of car parks and self-storage facilities owned by the Fry family.

In 2016, James Fry used the roof of another car park, on the corner of Market Street and Flinders Lane, to set up a short stay caravan business.

Greville shops

An interstate investor has splashed out close to $11 million for a Greville Street holding belonging to rich-lister Patricia Ilhan.

Ilhan, who made her fortune with the late John Ilhan in the early 2000s selling the Crazy John’s mobile phone business, bought the properties in 2011 for almost $8 million.

The shops at 136-144 Greville Street have sold for nearly $11 million.Credit:

The three shops at 136-144 Greville Street are leased by swanky French restaurant Entrecote and its neighbours, Kookai and Acai Brothers.

The properties are on three titles, covering 909 sq m, on the funky Prahran shopping strip. The tenants pay $479,370 a year in rent.

Vinci Carbone’s Frank Vinci and Joseph Carbone handled the expressions-of-interest campaign.

Vinci told Capital Gain there had been interest from offshore investors, but an interstate family secured the investment.

Union sells

The Australian Services Union is selling its long held office building in Carlton, on the city-fringe.

The building at 116 Queensberry Street, on the corner of Cardigan Street, has been ASU headquarters since 1989. The 2250 sq m three-storey office is on a 1026 sq m parcel of land.

CBRE agents Nick Peden and Jamus Campbell are handling the expressions-of-interest campaign. They’re expecting about $13 million. No word yet on where the ASU will land next.

The ASU is selling its headquarters at 116 Queensberry Street, Carlton.Credit:

On the other side of the city, an office at 29-33 Palmerston Crescent, South Melbourne, is back on the market for the third time in recent years.

The five-storey building was previously the long-time headquarters of the National Tax and Accountants Association and last changed hands in 2005 for $4.6 million.

It’s a short walk to St Kilda Road and the new Anzac railway station at the Domain Interchange.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Kirwan, Davies and Raphael Favas have the listing and expect it will fetch more than $10 million.

29-33 Palmerston Crescent, South MelbourneCredit:

Industrial shed

Perth-based investor Westbridge Funds Management has splashed out $13.25 million on a logistics property at 62 Northgate Drive, Thomastown.

The 4970 sq m property is on a 7600 sq m piece of land next to the Ring Road and is leased to logistics company NPFulfilment.

Colliers agents Daniel Telling, Billy Kanakis and Nick O’Brien handled the transaction.

The acquisition marks the completion of Westbridge’s $77 million Total Return Fund.

“The Thomastown property strengthens the fund’s logistics exposure in a location with proven occupier demand and constrained supply,” Westbridge head of capital transactions Simon Worth said.

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